The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In computing environments, it is typical to have help systems to teach a user how to accomplish certain tasks. The help systems can be at the application or application suite (a group of bundled and related applications) level, or at the operating system (or shell) level. Typically, both levels of help systems are used, with many, if not most, applications having a built in help system.
Help content has traditionally been static in nature, providing the user with written or graphically illustrated instructions on how to complete a particular task. However, more recently, help content has begun moving from static text to being more of a dynamic experience. In the transition from static help content to dynamic or active help content, what was traditionally viewed as harmless text is becoming increasingly capable of executing code or causing code to be executed on behalf of the user. To aid users by allowing help content to take actions on their behalf, for purposes of efficiently executing the actions and/or teaching the user how to execute the actions by watching the actions being executed by the help system, help type files are increasingly containing active content-executable code or script. The active content files can be authored in such a way that these files themselves call other executable code which is then also executed. Two examples of active help content include Active Content Wizards (ACW's) and Shortcuts.
ACW's generally include code, in one form or another, to interact with the user interface, to essentially play a help topic for a user directly to the user interface. While an ACW is interacting with the user interface, the ACW will also typically provide a description to the user regarding the interaction. During playback, the ACW may allow the user to interact with the user interface to enter specific information, such as a filename, etc., to aid in the user's learning process. Shortcuts are help type files which automatically execute an operation. Generally, any operation or activity which can be executed from the shell execute command (e.g., the Start/Run command of a Windows® operating system) can be executed automatically using a shortcut.
The fact that help content can now contain or call up executable code (active content) creates the possibility for the user's computer and data to be intentionally or unintentionally harmed by such active content. With active help content also being available over, and sometimes automatically accessed from, web pages and other remote sources, even more opportunity for active help content to harm the user's computer and data exists.